Luke 22:14

Luk_22:14-20

With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you

The last passover--Christs desire for it

This passover before I suffer! It tells us, surely, that there was some connection between the passover and the suffering of Christ, and a special connection in this passover at which He and His disciples were now sitting down.

Let us think of some of the reasons why the Saviour desired so earnestly to join in this last passover before He suffered.

1. One reason was, that the passover had now reached its end, and found its full meaning. The ancient covenant, which changed the slaves of Egypt into Gods servants, gives place to the new, which changes his servants into His sons, and commences that golden chain, If children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, etc. And here, too, are the means of the redemption. The passover, which sprinkled with the blood of the covenant the door-posts in the land of Egypt, descends until its last victim dies beneath the shadow of the cross of Christ. Its efficacy is gone, for He has appeared who is to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, and to bring in an everlasting righteousness. At best it was a shadow, but now the great reality has come, Christ our passover, sacrificed for us. It is no unconscious victim, but one who freely gives Himself, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to God.

2. Another reason why Christ desired to be present at this passover was, for the support of His own soul in the approaching struggle. Before I suffer! He had a terrible conflict to meet, for which He longed, and at which He trembled. We may feel startled at the thought that the Son of God should be dependent on such aid at such a moment. And yet it is in keeping with all His history--with the whole plan of redemption. The Divine and human are inseparably interwoven in the life and work of Christ.

3. We are led naturally to this further reason--that Christ desired to be present at the last passover because His friends needed special comfort. To eat this passover with you before I suffer. He desired to make His converse with them at this passover in the upper chamber a strength and consolation to them against the sore temptations they were to encounter. And may we not believe that Christ still prepares His people for what may be lying before them, and that He employs His comforts to prevent them--to go before them--in the day of their calamity. When darkness isabout to fall, God has lamps to put into the hand by anticipation. He who made His ark go before His ancient people in all their wanderings, causes the consolations of His Word to smooth the way of them that look to Him. He knows what painful steps are before us in the journey of life, what privations, what bereavements--it may be that the most solemn step of all must ere long be taken--and He desires to eat this passover with us before we suffer.

4. The last reason we give for Christs desire to be present at this passover is, that it looked forward to all the future of His Church and people. At the close of the last passover, Christ instituted that communion of the Supper which has come down through many generations--which goes forth into all the world as the remembrance of His death and the pledge of the blessings it has purchased for us. How frail this little ark which His hand has sent out on those stormy waters, but how safely it has carried its precious freight! And this presence of His, at the first communion, looks still further--on to the period when, instead of His Spirit, we shall have Himself. He desired to take His place in person at the first communion in our world, and when the great communion opens in heaven, He shall be seen in His place once more. (J. Ker, D. D.)

The Lords Supper

We need not look for great things in order to discover great truths. To those who reach after God he will reveal his deepest secrets through things insignificant in themselves, within the routine of common lives. No event occurs more regularly than the daily meal. None, perhaps, gathers around it so many pleasant associations. Its simplest possible form, in Christs time, consisted in eating bread and drinking a cup of wine. Into this act, one evening, He gathered all the meaning of the ancient sacrifices; all sacred and tender relations between Himself and His followers, and all the prophecies of His perfected kingdom.

I. THE PREPARATION. They made ready the passover. Note concerning the making ready that--

1. It was deliberate. The room was selected and secured. The hour was appointed. Two of the disciples were chosen to prepare the lamb and to spread the table. The Lords Supper is not less, but far more, rich in meaning than was the ancient passover. It requires the preparation of mind and heart made by private meditation, and by the gathering together beforehand of disciples for prayer, conference, and instruction.

2. It was exclusive, I shall eat the passover, Christ said, with My disciples. No others were invited, because no others were fitted to share in the ceremony which He was to inaugurate.

3. It was familiar. He drew closer to His disciples as the time approached in which He was to teach them how to celebrate His great act for the redemption of the world. Such times must be cherished as the warm, spring hours of spiritual growth.

4. It was solemn. The shadow of the greatest tragedy in the worlds history, close at hand, hung over them, as they went through the silent streets to the prepared guest chamber. His manner, His words, His actions, were filled with the consciousness of it.

II. THE BETRAYER POINTED OUT.

1. It leads each true disciple to self-examination.

2. It helps to reveal to Himself She false disciple. Judas knew that he was out of place in that upper chamber. The Lords table, which symbolizes the most intimate fellowship with Him, is a means of leading selfish men to begin to realize the awful and utter loneliness of sin.

3. It helps us to realize the baseness of a false confession of Christ.

III. THE SUPPER INSTITUTED.

1. A new sacrifice. Oxen, sheep, and doves had for centuries been slain as a sign that through life offered in sacrifice, human life that had been forfeited by sin might be restored. But from that night the broken bread takes the place of all these, and represents to us the body of Christ given as a sacrifice for sinners.

2. A new covenant.

3. A new kingdom, which was begun when first Christ through the Holy Spirit began to rule in one human heart. (A. E. Dunning.)

The happiness of attending The Communion

During the sunshine of his prosperity, Napoleon I. thought little of God and religious duties. But when his power had been broken, and he was an exile at St. Helena, he began to see the vanity of earthly things, and became earnest and attentive to religion. Then it was that he returned a very remarkable answer to one who asked him what was the happiest day in his life. Sire, said his questioner, allow me to ask you what was the happiest day in all your life? Was it the day of your victory at Lodi? at Jena? at Austerlitz? or was it when you were crowned emperor? No, my good friend, replied the fallen emperor, it was none of these. It was the day of my first communion! That was the happiest day in all my life! Sacramental service--

I. HOW INTENSE THE SAVIOURS LOVE FOR US MUST HAVE BEEN, in that His desire was not extinguished by the knowledge that it was to be His death-feast.

II. HOW CLOSE HIS FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN, as shown in that He desired to spend such an hour in their company.

III. HOW EAGER THE MASTER WAS TO MAKE THE DISCIPLES REALIZE THE NEARNESS OF THE HEAVENLY BLESSING HE WOULD PURCHASE FOR THEM, and to give them a pledge of it for their assurance. I will not eat any more thereof, until it be fulfilled, etc. The Lords Supper, then instituted, is thus designed to be--

1. An evidence of Christs undying love.

2. An assurance of His intimate fellowship.

3. A confirmation of His promise of the everlasting blessedness.

(Anon.)

The Last Supper

I. THE PASSOVER PREPARED. This preparation is suggestive of three things.

1. The dispensation in which Christ and His apostles still were.

2. The all-comprehensive knowledge possessed by Christ.

3. That in the midst of enemies Christ still had friends in Jerusalem.

II. The passover eaten.

1. Our Lords punctuality (Luk_22:14).

2. Our Lords intense desire in respect to this passover.

(1) Because the last He would celebrate with them.

(2) Because He would impress them with the connection between Himself as Gods Lamb, and the paschal lamb.

(3) Because He would awaken in them an intense desire for His second coming, when He would sit down with them in the Kingdom of God.

III. THE PASSOVER SUPERSEDED.

1. By the establishment of an ordinance which commemorates the true passover (see 1Co_5:7).

2. By the assurance of the better hope which this ordinance affirms Heb_7:19-22).

3. By the emblematic re-crucifixion of our Lord, which should inspire them to a constant remembrance of His personal love for them (1Co_11:24).

Lessons:

1. Retrospection essential.

(1) Bread broken.

(2) Wine poured out.

2. Introspection essential (1Co_11:28).

3. Prospection essential (1Co_11:26). (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

The cup of sneering and of Communion

I. THAT COMMUNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND BELIEVERS WILL BE RENEWED IN HEAVEN. Even on this side heaven, seasons of pure spiritual communion are not denied us. This exhausts the Saviours idea. His words are to be taken not literally, but spiritually. The wine is put for the thing represented--the joys and the felicities of the final state, and to drink the wine newwith Him is to partake the inmost pleasure of His soul.

II. THIS COMMUNION WILL BE PERFECT AND UNMIXED. We receive only in part; and this necessarily renders every act of communion imperfect. But in heaven it will be otherwise. Our nature will be so purified and transformed, as that every power and every property will be an avenue to convey the stream of life and glory into the soul. The fellowship will be that of perfected spirits. There will be no darkness in the understanding, no error in the judgment, no guilt in the conscience, no sin in the heart.

III. THIS COMMUNION WILL RE UNINTERRUPTED AND ETERNAL. Sublime and refreshing as are the seasons of spiritual joy which we experience on earth, they are, generally speaking, but of short duration. Here perpetuity of enjoyment is impossible, but there it is certain. The union between the Saviour and the soul will never be dissolved, and therefore the fellowship will never end. Here we are overtaken by fatigue and exhaustion, but there we shall be endowed with immortal vigour; here sickness and infirmity often intervene, but there the inhabitants shall never say they are sick; here we enjoy communion at intervals, there it will be eternal.

IV. THIS COMMUNION WILL BE HEIGHTENED BY THE PRESENCE AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE WHOLE REDEEMED CHURCH. It is no common joy which we experience even in the most private communion; but this joy is heightened when we can blend with other souls in harmony with our own. What, then, must be the communion of the coming world, where we shall hold immediate fellowship not only with God and the Redeemer, but at the same moment, and in the same act, with angels and the whole Church of the redeemed? Delightful is the union and fellowship of minds on earth! When heart communes with heart it is like the mingling dew-drops on the flower. But this union will be heightened in heaven. There we shall find none but kindred minds, with which it will be impossible not to unite. The blessedness of the future world is in reserve for those only who belong to the kingdom of God on earth. Into the heavenly communion none will be received, but those who have here held fellowship with a risen and glorified Saviour. (R. Ferguson, LL. D.)

He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it

The Holy Communion

I. HOLY COMMUNION--WHAT IS IT?

1. It is Christs own ordinance. Being a communicant is the test of the reality of your Christian profession.

2. It is the command of the Great Master. Emphatic, plain, straightforward, definite. A test of our faithfulness RS the servants of Christ.

3. It is the dying wish of the best of Friends. You cannot disregard it, and be true to Him.

4. Its great importance is taught plainly by the teaching and practice of the early Church. It was at first the only act of united worship. And it was celebrated at least every Lords Day.

II. WHAT IS ITS NATURE?

1. It is a memorial. A picture for all time of Christs body broken and blood shed for the sins of man.

(1) A memorial to God the Father. In our prayers we say, through Jesus Christ our Lord; or some such words; i.e., we plead before the Father what He has done for us. In the Holy Communion we say, for Jesus sake not in words, but in the very acts which He Himself has taught us. Thus it is our highest act of prayer.

(2) A memorial to ourselves. How easily we forget. This refreshes our memory, and rekindles our love.

(3) A memorial to an unthinking or unbelieving world. A witness to men that we believe in Jesus, who lived and died and still lives for us.

2. It is a means of grace. Jesus Himself is pleased in this ordinance of his own appointment to give us Himself.

3. It is a bond of union between ourselves and others. In partaking together one sacred food we, made one with Jesus, are brought nearer to one another.

(1) A bond of union between those who belong to the same earthly family.

(2) A bond of union between those who belong to the same congregation.

(3) A bond of union between all Christians who love the Lord Jesus.

(4) A bond of union between those who are resting in paradise.

III. WHO OUGHT TO COME?

1. Those who know how poor their love is, and want to love God more.

2. Those who are trying to serve God, and fail because they are weak, and need strength.

3. Those who are sinful, but desire to become holy.

4. Those who are careful and troubled about many things, and long for rest.

IV. WHO OUGHT NOT TO COME?

1. Those who are sinning, and do not want to give up their sin.

2. Those who think themselves good enough. The selfsatisfied obtain no blessing, for they seek none.

V. HOW TO COME.

1. Humbly. Why? Because we are not worthy to come.

2. Trustingly and simply. Taking God at His word, and not asking questions.

3. Earnestly. Meaning what we are doing. Not because others come, but because we realize that in our sinfulness and our unworthiness we find the strongest reason why we ought to come.

4. Reverently. Humbly realizing the presence of Jesus, and earnestly desiring His blessing.

5. Regularly. Have a fixed rule about it. Do not leave it to be done at any time when it is convenient or suits you.

6. More and more frequently. As you grow older you ought to be more earnest, and in order to serve God better you must seek more help. The grown-up man is not content with the same amount of food as the child; and the man who is desirous to grow up into the full measure of the stature of Christ, needs more spiritual nourishment than the man who is only a babe in Christ.

7. Early. When your thoughts are fresh, your heart free from cares and worries, your mind undisturbed by worldly things. Give to God the best you can. Let Him have the first of the day. (C. J. Ridgeway, M. A.)

The Holy Communion

I. THE ORDINANCE ITSELF.

II. ITS CHARACTERISTICS.

1. A Divine ordinance.

2. A perpetual ordinance.

3. A binding and obligatory ordinance.

4. It should be a frequent ordinance. No Lords Day without the Lords Supper.

III. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT SHOULD BE OBSERVED.

1. Deep humility of mind.

2. Grateful love to Jesus.

3. Faith.

4. Love to all mankind.

5. Joyous hope.

IV. THE ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM OBEDIENCE TO THIS COMMAND OF CHRISTS.

1. The soul will be strengthened.

2. Christ will be increasingly precious.

3. Holiness will be increased.

4. Heaven will be desired.

Application:

1. Address regular communicants. Come in a right spirit. Be watchful, humble, prayerful, etc.

2. Address irregular communicants. Why so? It is disobedience, inconsistency, injurious to yourselves, Church, world.

3. Those who never commune at all.

(1) The conscientiously doubtful. Do you hate sin? Believe in Christ, etc. Are you willing to obey him? Then draw near, etc.

(2) Those who are really unfit for the Lords table, are also unfit for death, judgment, eternity. (J. Burns, D. D.)

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

In preserving this festival, we are urged alike by affection and duty.

I. THE ACT.

1. To stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, we may point out the simplicity of this act.

2. But though simple it is significant. The material forms and visible things, represent spiritual and invisible realities.

3. The participation of this Sacrament is a manifestation of

Christian unity (1Co_10:16-17).

4. This act is commemorative.

5. This ordinance is also sealing. A pledge of Divine mercy. A covenant act.

6. This Sacrament is also prospective. Till He come.

II. THE COMMAND. This do.

1. Unanimously.

2. Frequently.

3. Gratefully.

4. Reverently.

5. Worthily. Discerning the Lords Body. (R. M. Willcox.)

The Lords Supper

The Lords Supper--what a title! How full of memories, how it carries us back into the very heart of the past! What a solemn night it tells of--what a meeting--what a parting! The Lords Supper, however often it is celebrated, always ought to carry us back to the institution. For the little company of the disciples it was a night of gloom. The week had opened amid Hosannas; for a moment it had seemed as if the Saviour was to be the hero and the idol of the multitude. But the acclaims died away. The bitter hostility of the rulers reasserted itself in a series of angry or crafty assaults; and now we are on the very eve of that other and most opposite cry--Away with Him; crucify Him. His blood be on us, and on our children. The fortunes of the new gospel, as man must judge, were that night at the very lowest ebb. As the event advances it is made quite evident that this is a parting meeting, and that the Lord and Master knows it. He speaks of Himself as departing, not on a temporary journey, but by a violent death. People who are bent upon explaining away everything that is remarkable, still more everything that is superhuman in the Gospels, have denied that the words Take, eat, this is My Body; Drink ye all of this, for this is My Blood, were words of institution at all. They say that they were merely a pathetic way of typifying to the disciples His approaching death, and had nothing to do with any future commemoration of it when He should be gone. It is not necessary to argue this point, because we have the clearest testimony from the earliest date rationally possible; the testimony of friends and foes; of Christians and Pagans; of St. Paul and St. Luke; of Pliny no less than Justin Martyr, that those who heard the words did understand them as words of institution, and did act upon them as such. The breaking of the bread, the coming together to eat the Lords Supper were phrases of perpetual recurrence as soon as there was any Church founded, and wherever that Church spread itself over Asia and Europe; and that custom, always, and everywhere, explained itself by going back to the scene in the guest-chamber the night before the Crucifixion. But now, if the words had this meaning, the thought comes upon us with great force, how wonderful is it that our Lord, knowing that tiffs was His last night upon earth as a man in flesh and blood, instead of regarding it as an end, looks upon it as a beginning, speaks of it as a preliminary, a necessary preliminary to results foreseen and foreknown, in particular to what He calls the remission or dismissal of sins, and gives directions for the perpetual remembrance of His approaching baptism of blood, in an ordinance which is to have for its marked feature the symbolic eating and drinking of His own Body and Blood. Brethren, this is a great thought. Our Lord in the same night in which He was betrayed, the very night before tie suffered, did not look upon that betrayal or upon that passion as a disaster, as a blow struck at His work, or His enterprise, but rather as its necessary condition. It is the fore-ordained consummation. The same night in which He was betrayed, and in the clearest foresight of His Crucifixion, He founds an ordinance, He institutes a sacrament in express recognition, and for the everlasting remembrance, of His death of violence and torture, of ignominy and agony. Well, now let us pass on to the very words of the institution, so much more surprising and startling than if they had merely spoken of commemorating His death--Take, eat, this is My Body; Drink ye all of this, for this is My blood. It would not have been at all startling, and not at all surprising, if our Lord had hidden His disciples to come together from time to time to meditate upon His cruel and suffering death. A mere man might have thought of this, might even have made it a religious service to go over the particulars of His passion, partly as a memorial to a lost friend, and partly for the encouragement of serious, devout, and humble living. But this cannot be said of the expressions before us--Take, eat, this is My Body. Drink this, for it is My Blood. So far from this being the common language of a dying friend, it would be language of which all would shrink from the hearing or the uttering. Brethren, it speaks for itself, that they must have regarded Him who said, Take, eat, this is My Body, as one altogether different from any common, or any merely human person. It would be cruelty, it would be impiety, it would be insanity in any friend, living or dying, to use such expressions concerning himself. They say this, if they say anything, My death shall be your life; My body is given, My blood is outpoured for you. In that death is involved the life of the world. In that separation of flesh and blood which is the act of dying, the sins of the world are taken away; yet this is not as a single isolated fact just to be accepted, just to be relied upon, without corollary or consequence--not so. I, the dying, the once dead, shall be alive again after death, and be your life, not as a dead man, but as one alive after death; so must you deal with Me. You must receive Me into your hearts, you must, as it were, eat Me and drink Me, so that I may enter into your very being, and become a part of you; not as a man in human form treading upon the earth, companying with you as a man with his friends, but in a totally different manner, as one that died and was dead, but who now liveth to die no more; as one that has died and risen again; as one that is now in heaven; as one that has the Holy Spirit, and sends Him forth for perpetual indwelling in the hearts of His people. So eat, so drink, for refreshing, and for sustentation. The flesh profiteth nothing; no, not though you could hold in the hand and press with the teeth the very body of the Crucified. The flesh, even the sacred flesh, profiteth nothing; it is the Spirit that quickeneth. One moment of spiritual contact with the risen and glorified is worth whole centuries, whole millenniums, of the corporeal co-existence. (Dean Vaughan.)

The advantages of remembering Christ

I. We are to inquire, first, WHAT IS IMPLIED IN REMEMBERING CHRIST.

1. There is evidently implied in this remembrance a knowledge of Him, a previous acquaintance with Him. He must have occupied much of our thoughts, have entered into our hearts, and been lodged in the deepest recesses of our minds.

2. Hence to remember Christ implies a heart-felt love for Him.

3. Hence to remember Christ implies also a frequent and affectionate recalling of Him to our minds.

II. Let us proceed to inquire why CHRIST HAS LEFT US THIS COMMAND TO REMEMBER HIM.

1. He has done this for a reason which ought greatly to humble us tie has said, Remember Me, because He knows that we are prone to forget Him.

2. But our proneness to forget Christ is not the only reason why He has commanded us to remember Him. He has given us this command, because He desires to be remembered by us.

3. The great reason, however, why Christ has commanded us to remember Him, is this--He knows that we cannot think of Him without deriving much benefit to ourselves.

III. WHAT, THEN, ARE THE ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM AN HABITUAL REMEMBRANCE OF JESUS? This is our third subject of inquiry; let us proceed to consider it.

1. The first of these benefits is comfort to the soul, when wounded by a sense of sin.

2. An habitual remembrance of Christ has a tendency also to elevate our affections.

3. This heavenly-mindedness would lead us to a third benefit resulting from this remembrance of Christ--patience and comfort in our afflictions.

4. The remembrance of Christ tends also to keep alive within us a holy hatred of sin. Nothing makes sin appear half so hateful, as the cross of Christ; nothing so effectually checks it when rising in the soul, as the thought of a dying Saviour. O let me never crucify the Son of God afresh!

IV. BUT IF WE WOULD HABITUALLY REMEMBER CHRIST, LET US NOT FORGET THE COMMAND GIVEN US IN THE TEXT. This do in remembrance of Me. We soon forget objects which are removed from our sight; and our Lord, who knows and pities this weakness of our nature, has given us an abiding memorial of Himself. He has appointed an ordinance for this very purpose, to remind us of His love. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

Christ wanting to be remembered

The Holy Communion is the memorial of our Redeemers sacrifice.

I. CHRIST WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US. We never must forget the past, or lose sight of Calvary. Great Prophet, we must ever think of what He has done to teach; Great Priest, what He has done to atone; and Great King, what He has done to win the allegiance and devotion of our hearts.

II. OUR LORD WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED IN WHAT HE IS DOING FOR US. He lives to carry on and to carry out His work of grace in our hearts and lives.

III. CHRIST WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED FOR WHAT HE IS UNDER PLEDGE TO DO. We anticipate the coronation of our King, and the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Veils hide Him now; we long for the vision of His face. (R. Tuck, B. A.)

The Holy feast

1. A feast of charity.

2. A feast of commemoration.

3. A feast of sanctified communion.

4. A feast of hope. (J. B. Owen, M. A.)

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

I. A DIRECTION FROM CHRIST--Do this.

1. Addressed by our Lord

(1) to the apostles, and

(2) through them to the whole catholic Church.

2. Spoken as a Friend to His friends.

3. Spoken instructively. As our Prophet.

4. Spoken authoritatively. As our King, Christ expects us to keep this our military oath with Him. If an earthly commander had but to say to his servant, go, and he went; and come, and he came; how much more ought we to be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? See then, oh believer, that ye refuse not Him who speaketh. Do not come to the Holy Table--

(a) formally;

(b) grudgingly, or of necessity.

But come--

(a) humbly;

(b) reverently;

(c) faithfully.

II. AN EXPLANATORY MOTIVE--In remembrance of Me. (R. S. Brooke, M. A.)

The cup of reconciliation

Warburton and Tucker were contemporary bishop and dean in the same cathedral. For many years they were not even on speaking terms. It was on a Good Friday, not long before Warburtons death; they were at the Holy Table together. Before he gave the cup to the dean, he stooped down, and said in tremulous emotion, Dear Tucker, let this be the cup of reconciliation between us. It had the intended effect; they were friends again to their mutual satisfaction. (Christian Age.)

The Lords Supper

I. THE INSTITUTION OF THIS HOLY RITE. This do--that is, do what I am doing. To do what Jesus did we are to take bread and wine. And we are to take this bread and wine, not for an ordinary meal--for they had supped; and St. Paul says, If any hunger, let him eat at home,--but for a sacramental feast, a means of feeding in our souls upon the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour. Again, if we would do what Jesus did, we must, before we eat that bread and drink that wine, have them consecrated: Jesus blessed; and, as St. Paul says, the cup of blessing which we bless. Next, we are to have a minister to consecrate them. We do not find that any disciples meeting together could consecrate the elements, for in Matthew we are told, that Jesus blessed it and brake it, and then gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is My Body. Again we find, that in doing this, our Lord accompanied it with prayer.

II. THE PURPOSE OF THE LORDS SUPPER--do this in remembrance of Me. The remembrance of Jesus may be considered actively or passively--this do in remembrance of Me--that is, to remind Jesus of us, or to remind us of Jesus. The expression may be applied both ways, and may be profitably considered in either view. We have need of reminding Christ of us, of our necessities, our wants, our joys, and our sorrows, as in Is

43:26. In Num_10:9, we have the same truth of reminding God of us set before the Jews, and so s gain in Mal_3:16-17. In this view of these words, we have then this truth set before us that, in that holy ordinance, we remind Jesus of His covenanted mercy, of His dying love, the price it cost Christ to purchase our souls, the greatness of His promises, the reality and truth of our faith in Him, the necessity we have to bring before Him our weakness and our woes. We remind Him that we do indeed believe in Him, and that, believing in Him, we cling to His precious covenant. In taking of the memorials of His dying love, we remind Him that we are those of whom He has said, He that believeth on Me, though He were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die. But again, the remembrance of Jesus, taken passively, implies that we remember Jesus; our remembrance of Jesus implies, not merely a remembrance of one act of the Saviour, of one truth, or one fact connected with His gospel or His life, but a remembrance of Himself. He does not say, do it in remembrance of the cross-do it in remembrance of the garden, but, do it in remembrance of Me--My person--My offices--My qualities--My whole being--Christ Jesus our Redeemer--ourFriend. Remembrance of Jesus must vary in intensity, and affection, and character, in proportion to our knowledge of His love, His grace, His kindness, and His truth, and of our habitual abiding in Him in our own souls.

III. WHO ARE THE PERSONS THAT OUGHT TO PARTAKE OF IT?

IV. THE DUTY OF OBSERVING IT. It was given for disciples. (J. Baylee, D. D.)

The Lords Supper an emblem and memorial

I. It is AN EMBLEM. The question is, then, what unseen things do these simple objects represent?

1. The human nature of Christ; His incarnation.

2. The death of Christ, too, is shadowed forth in this ordinance. We have more than bread before us in it, it is bread which has been broken; and more than wine, it is wine which has been poured forth.

3. The consecrated elements are emblematical also of the great end and design of our Lords incarnation and death.

II. Let us now go on to another view of this ordinance. IT IS A MEMORY. This do, He says, in remembrance of Me. But it is not Himself simply considered, that our Lord calls on us here to remember; it is Himself as these emblems set Him forth, given and bleeding for us; it is Himself in His humiliation, sufferings, and death. Why the institution of an ordinance to bring things like these to our remembrance?

1. Partly, perhaps, on account of the joy Christ Himself feels in the recollection of them. His heart overflows with joy at the thought of His cross and passion, and He would have us think of them and sympathize with Him in His joy.

2. The remembrance of Christs incarnation and death is of the utmost importance to us; therefore also He may have established this memorial of them among us. All our fresh springs are in our crucified Lord, and therefore He brings Himself frequently before us as our crucified Lord that we may go to Him as the great source of our mercies, and take of His blessings.

3. There is another reason to be given for the setting up of this memorial of our Lords sufferings--it is our liability to forget them. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

Christs vicarious death

A single verse, written on paper, now yellow with age, hangs on the wall of a noblemans study in London. It has a remarkable history, and has, in two notable instances, at least, been blessed of God to conversion. The verse was originally composed by Dr. Valpy, the eminent Greek scholar and author of some standard school books. He was converted late in life, and wrote this verse as a confession of faith:--

In peace let me resign my breath,

And Thy salvation see;

My sins deserve eternal death,

But Jesus died for me.

On one occasion Dr. Marsh was visiting the house of Lord Roden, where he held a Bible reading with the family. He mentioned Dr. Valpys conversion by way of illustration in the course of his remarks, and recited the verse. Lord Roden was particularly struck with the lines, wrote them out, and affixed them to the wall of his study, where they still are. Lord Rodens hospitable mansion was often full of visitors, among whom were many old army officers. One of these was General Taylor, who served with distinction under Wellington at Waterloo. He had not, at that time, thought much on the subject of religion, and preferred to avoid all discussion of it. But soon after the paper was hung up he went into the study to talk with his friend alone, and his eyes rested for a few moments upon the verse. Later in the day Lord Roden upon entering his study came upon the general standing before the paper and reading it with earnest face. At another visit the host noticed that whenever General Taylor was in the study his eyes rested on the verse. At length Lord Roden broke the ice by saying, Why, General, you will soon know that verse by heart. I know it now by heart, replied the general, with emphasis and feeling. A change came over the generals spirit and life. No one who was intimately acquainted with him could doubt its reality. During the following two years he corresponded readily with Lord Roden about the things which concerned his peace, always concluding his letters by quoting Dr. Valpys verse. At the end of that time the physician who attended General Taylor wrote to Lord Roden to say that his friend had departed in peace, and that the last words which fell from his dying lips were those which he had learned to love in his lifetime. A young relative of the family, an officer who served in the Crimea, also saw it, but turned carelessly away. Some months later Lord Roden received the intelligence that his young acquaintance was suffering from pulmonary disease, and was desirous of seeing him without delay. As he entered the sick-room the dying man stretched out both hands to welcome him; at the same time repeating Dr. Valpys simple lines. They have been Gods message, he said, of peace and comfort to my heart in this illness, when brought to my memory, after days of darkness and distress, by the Holy Ghost the Comforter.

The ordained memorial

I. THE MAIN OBJECT OF THE SUPPER IS A PERSONAL MEMORIAL. In remembrance of Me. We are to remember not so much His doctrines, or precepts, as His person. Remember the Lord Jesus at this Supper--

1. As the trust of your hearts.

2. As the object of your gratitude.

3. As the Lord of your conduct.

4. As the joy of your lives.

5. As the Representative of your persons.

6. As the Rewarder of your hopes. Remember what He was, what He is, what He will be. Remember Him with heartiness, concentration of thought, realizing vividness, and deep emotion.

II. THE MEMORIAL ITSELF IS STRIKING.

1. Simple, and therefore like Himself, who is transparent and unpretentious truth. Only bread broken, and wine poured out.

2. Frequent--as oft as ye drink it, and so pointing to our constant need. He intended the Supper to be often enjoyed.

3. Universal, and so showing the need of all. Drink ye all of it. In every land, all His people are to eat and drink at this table.

4. His death is the best memory of Himself, and it is by showing forth His death that we remember Him.

5. His covenant relation is a great aid to memory; hence He speaks of--The new covenant in My Blood. We do not forget Adam, our first covenant-head; nor can we forget our second Adam.

6. Our receiving Him is the best method of keeping Him in memory; therefore we eat and drink in this ordinance. No better memorial could have been ordained.

III. THE OBJECT AIMED AT IS ITSELF INVITING. Since we are invited to come to the holy Supper that we may remember our Lord, we may safely infer that--

1. We may come to it, though we have forgotten Him often and sadly. In fact, this will be a reason for coming.

2. We may come, though others may be forgetful of Him. We come not to judge them, but to remember Him ourselves.

3. We may come, though weak for aught else but the memory of His goodness.

4. It will be sweet, cheering, sanctifying, quickening, to remember Him; therefore let us not fail to come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Sacrament better than a sermon

Frequently to me the Supper has been much better than a sermon. It has the same teaching-power, but it is more vivid. The Lord is known to us in the breaking of bread, though our eyes have been holden during His discourse. I can see a good meaning in the saying of Henry III., of France, when he preferred the Sacrament to a sermon: I had rather see my Friend than hear Him talked about. I love to hear my Lord talked about, for so I often see Him, and I see Him in no other way in the Supper than in a sermon; but sometimes, when my eye is weak with weeping, or dim with dust, that double glass of the bread and wine suits me best. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The ends for which the Holy Communion is appointed

1. It is appointed to be a memorial of Christ.

2. It is a standing evidence of the truth of Christianity.

3. It furnishes an opportunity of the open profession of the Christian religion in general, and, especially, of our trusting in the sacrifice of Christ for forgiveness and acceptance with God.

4. Another end of the Lords Supper is to be an act of Church fellowship, or communion.

5. The Lords Supper gives an opportunity of covenanting with God, and engaging to be the Lords. He who partakes of the Communion is, by that very act, as completely and voluntarily bound to serve the Lord, as if he had engaged aloud to do so in the plainest terms of speech, or subscribed, with his own hand, a written deed to that effect. It follows, too, by necessary consequence, that, though he is not bound to anything to which he was not in duty bound before, yet, if he abandon himself to sin, he is justly chargeable with breach of engagement. This argument does not rest on anything peculiar to the Supper; but it applies to it with particular force.

6. Another very comprehensive end of this ordinance is to be a means of cherishing all the graces of the Divine life. We say of cherishing them, not of implanting them; for, though the grace of God is not to be limited, and may reach the heart, for the first time, in any circumstances, those who partake of the Lords Supper ought already to be possessed of the Christian character in some degree.

7. Once more, this ordinance is intended to lead our thoughts forward to our Lords second coming. It is not only retrospective, but prospective. It is not only a remembrance of something past, but an anticipation of something future. (James Foote, M. A.)

Remembering Jesus

In remembrance of Him! What a flood of recollections comes back to us as we think on these words. To every class, age, and character amongst us those words are spoken. To you babes and children He says, Do this in remembrance of Me, the Child Jesus, who for you once lay as a babe in the manger at Bethlehem, who for your sakes grew as a child in favour with God and man, who was obedient to His parents, a gentle, holy Child; do this, be obedient, be gentle, be loving, keep your baptismal vow in remembrance of Me. It speaks to you, young men, and says, Do this, keep yourselves pure, flee fleshly lusts which war against the soul, be helpful, be earnest, not slothful in business, labour honestly in your appointed task, do this in remembrance of Me, who as a young man was pure and earnest and helpful, who laboured patiently and obscurely in lowly Nazareth. He speaks to all Who have money or time or influence at their disposal, He says, Do this, go about doing good, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the fatherless and the widow; never turn your face from any poor man; if thou hast much, give plenteously, if thou hast little do thy diligence to give gladly of that little, do this in remembrance of Me, the Man Christ Jesus, who went about doing good, who gave up all time, glory, honour, wealth, life itself, for others, who sought out the ignorant and those who were out of the way, who dried the widows tears, who ministered to the sick, who was not ashamed to help and comfort even the publican and the fallen woman, who suffered hunger and thirst, and want, and insult for His people; O you, who are called by My name, do this in remembrance of Me, for in that ye do such things unto the least of My people, ye do it unto Me, and verily ye have your reward. To you who are anyways afflicted and distressed lie speaks and says, Do this in remembrance of Me, bear this cross meekly in remembrance of that bitter cross of Mine, for what sorrow is like unto My sorrow, what night of agony can equal that night in Gethsemane, what grave can now be without hope since that one grave in the Garden which was unsealed on Easter morning? (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)

The memorial of Jesus

I. THE INJUNCTION OF A DEEPLY DEVOTED FRIEND.

II. THE INJUNCTION OF A DEPARTED FRIEND.

III. WHAT DO WE SPECIALLY COMMEMORATE BY OUR COMPLIANCE WITH THIS COMMAND? His death, as a sacrificial atonement for our sins, and as the most remarkable display of His love for us, though sinners.

IV. In commemorating Christs death by this ordinance, WE RECALL THE IGNOMINY, REPROACH, AND SHAME HE ENDURED ON OUR BEHALF.

V. Reflect that THESE THINGS, MORE THAN ALL OTHERS, ARE WORTHY OF BEING HELD IN EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE.

VI. HERE, TOO, WE KEEP IN REMEMBRANCE TRANSACTIONS IN WHICH EVERY GENERATION HAS THE SAME INTEREST, AND WHICH PRESENT TO ALL THE SAME MOST INVITING AND SOLEMN ASPECTS.

VII. Once more, in the same direction of thought, we observe that, IN THE CELEBRATION OF DEEDS OF PROWESS AND PATRIOTISM, THE REMOTER THE PERIOD OF THEIR PERFORMANCE, THE LESS IS THE INTEREST AWAKENED BY THEM, while in relation to the great event which we this day commemorate, THE REMOTER THE AGE AND GENERATION, THE DEEPER WILL BE THE INTEREST FELT IN IT, AND MORE NUMEROUS WILL THEY BE WHO CELEBRATE IT.

VIII. IN THIS ORDINANCE CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED UPON TO REMEMBER AN UNSEEN FRIEND, UNTIL THE APPOINTED PERIOD OF HIS REAPPEARANCE.

IX. FROM THE SIMPLE NATURE OF THE SYMBOLS EMPLOYED, WE INFER THAT THIS COMMEMORATION IS TO BE UNIVERSAL AS THE CHURCH, AND EXTENSIVE AS THE WORLD.

X. Notice the PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THIS COMMAND AS DISTINGUISHED FROM ALL OTHERS ENJOINED BY DIVINE AUTHORITY. This commemorative command is not issued to us so much in the manner of a Lord and lawgiver, as in the character of a claim of gratitude and affection. The Creator commands thus, Do this and live; or, fail to do, and die. So does the Lawgiver command--Thou shalt do this in fear of Me, and of the penalties of disobedience. But our Lords command in the text speaks to us in a very different manner. He does not say, Do this in fear of Me as God, but Do this in remembrance of Me, as Redeemer--Do this, I beseech you, as you love Me, and as I have loved you. I have done My work--It is finished. Now do your part in remembrance of this finished work. In obeying this command, we obey it as having especial and peculiar reference to the Mediator. Other commands, like those of the moral law, respect the providence and moral government of God, and the benefit of man--this one directly issues from, and gives glory to, the dying Redeemer, the God-man, the Author and Finisher of our faith. In His other commands Christ addresses us as our Master, our Shepherd, our Divine and Supreme Teacher--in this He instructs us in our duties to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves. All His other commands appear to point OUTWARDS in the direction of various rights and duties; this command only points REWARDS: others, away from Himself--this, to Himself, Do this in remembrance of ME--in remembrance of My body, My blood, My death. That death which I endured for your sakes, do you at least remember for My sake. (J. R. Leifchild, M. A.)

Design of the Lords Supper

I. COMMEMORATIVE.

1. In remembrance of Me--the end.

2. Do this--the means.

II. REPRESENTATIVE.

1. The bread, or Christs body, represents His personality, or the Incarnation.

2. The wine, or Christs blood, represents His work, or the

Atonement.

3. The bread and wine, the body and blood, represent the incarnate career.

III. PROCLAMATIVE. An immortal witness to the crucifixion (1Co_11:20).

IV. COVENANTIVE (Luk_22:20). The engagement both Divine and human.

V. COMMUNICATIVE (1Co_10:17).

VI. ASSOCIATIVE. Personal membership in Christ is universal co-membership of Christs people.

VII. ANTICIPATIVE (Mat_26:29). The dirge glides into the paean. Hint of the new heavens and new earth. Bridegroom and bride at the same marriage-supper of the Lamb (Rev_19:6-9). (National Baptist.)

The blood of the new covenant

I. THE NEW COVENANT OF FORGIVENESS AND LIFE. The new reminds of the old. From the old we may learn what to look for as essential features of the new. Take three illustrations:

1. The covenant with Noah, on leaving the Ark.

2. The covenant with Abraham, on entering Canaan.

3. The covenant with Moses, on leading the people from Egypt. The new covenant is an engagement between God and man, through Christ, who acts as representative of God to man and of man to God. It implies mutual pledges. On Gods side is pledged forgiveness; remission of sins; and life, in its fullest, highest meaning. On mans side is pledged the obedience of faith.

II. THE BLOOD WHICH SEALS AND SANCTIONS THE COVENANTS. Look again at the three cases mentioned. Each covenant was sealed with blood. Noah took of the clean beasts for his offering, which devoted the spared lives to the service of God. Abraham divided the creatures, when he entered into his covenant. And Moses sprinkled with blood both the book and the people, when the covenant was ratified. Why always with blood? Because the blood is the symbol of the life, and, so, shedding blood was a symbolical way of taking a solemn vow to give the whole life to obedience. Then see how Christs blood becomes the seal of the new covenant. Take Christ as Mediator for God. He condescended to our weakness, and pledged His very being, His very life, to His faithfulness towards us. In this sense He is Gods sacrifice. Take Christ as mediator for man. And in this He is mans sacrifice. Then two things come to view.

1. He seals our pledge that we will spend life in obedience, serving God up to and through death. In accepting Christ as our Saviour, we acknowledge that He has taken this pledge for us.

2. In giving His blood, His life, to us to partake of, Christ would give us the strength to keep our pledge. Illustrate by the Scottish Covenanters, opening a vein, and, signing with their life-blood the Covenant on the gravestone, in Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh. What, then, is the pledge which we take afresh in each sacramental act? Obedience unto death. The obedience of faith. What is the pledge we receive afresh in every sacramental act? The assurance of Divine forgiveness, and eternal life. Why do we take the sacramental emblems together? In order that we may be mutual witnesses; and then true helpers one of another in keeping our pledge. (The Weekly Pulpit.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 22:14-18. When the hour was come, &c. — When the evening approached, Jesus left Bethany; and every thing being prepared by the time he came into the city, they all sat down at the appointed hour. And he said, With desire I have desired — That is, I have earnestly desired it. He desired it, both for the sake of his disciples, to whom he desired to manifest himself further, at this solemn parting; and for the sake of his whole church, that he might institute the grand memorial of his death. For I will not any more eat thereof until, &c. — That is, it will be the last time I shall eat with you before I die. The particle until, used here and Luk 22:18, does not imply that, after the things signified by the passover were fulfilled, in the gospel dispensation, our Lord was to eat the passover. It is only a Hebrew form of expression, signifying that the thing mentioned was no more to be done for ever. Until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven — That is, until the deliverance of mankind from the bondage of sin and death is procured by my death and resurrection; a deliverance typified by that of our fathers from the Egyptian bondage, to keep up the memory of which the passover was instituted. And he took the cup, and gave thanks — Having spoken as above, Jesus took a cup of wine in his hand, that cup which used to be brought at the beginning of the paschal solemnity, and gave thanks to Almighty God for his great goodness to his people, mentioning, no doubt, some of the principal instances thereof, especially their redemption, first from Egypt, and then from Babylon. And said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves, for I will not drink, &c. — As if he had said, Do not expect me to drink of it: I will drink no more before I die. Or, his meaning might be, After what passes, this evening, I will not drink any more with you of the fruit of the vine; therefore, as it is the last paschal supper that I shall partake of with you, let that consideration be an additional reason for your celebrating it with peculiar seriousness and devotion. Until the kingdom of God shall come — Till the gospel dispensation shall be fully opened, or till that complete and spiritual redemption, which is typified by this ordinance, shall be fulfilled and perfected.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 122. JESUS SITS DOWN WITH THE TWELVE—AMBITIOUS

CONTENTION AMONG THEM, Luk_22:14-18; Luk_22:24-30.

Mat_26:20; Mar_14:17.

14. Sat down—It must never be forgotten, in reading descriptions of the ancient meals, that there was no sitting in chairs, but reclining on couches at the table. The best commentators, assuming that Luke has changed the order, place the strife of the twelve (Luk_22:24-30) immediately upon their sitting down. Then, in reproof of that strife, follows the washing of the apostles’

feet, given by John.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. The Passover and the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Luk_22:14-23)

(Parallel to Mat_26:20-29; Mar_14:17-25; Joh_13:21-35.)

14And when the hour was come, he sat down [reclined at table], and the twelve 15[om., twelve3] apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desiredto eat this passover with you before I suffer: 16For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof,4 until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 17And he took the5 cup, andgave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall [have] come. 19And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed foryou. 21But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me [delivereth me up] is with me 22on the table. And [For6] truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined [κατὰ τὸ ὡρισμένον]: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed [delivered up]! 23And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was [might be] that should [was about to] do this thing.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

If we attentively compare the narrative of Luke respecting the Passover and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper with the accounts of the other Evangelists, we shall on one hand be strengthened in the conviction that all give account of the same festal meal and the same discovery of the traitor, but we must, on the other hand, at the same time concede that Luke’s chronological sequence is not wholly exact. Only when we complement his narrative by that of the others, does it become to us in any measure possible to place the whole course of facts vividly before our eyes. Not the arrangement of the different elements of the celebration, but the sharp contrast between the state of mind of the Apostles and the words of the Saviour, comes in his representation decidedly into the foreground, and Luke is here also, where he introduces us into the upper chamber, more a painter than a diplomatically exact historian.

Luk_22:14. The hour.—The ὥρα of the law, Matthew and Mark ὀψίας. Respecting the manner of celebrating the Passover, see Lange on Mat_26:20, and Friedlieb, Archäologie der Leidensgeschichte, § 18 seq. Comp. Lightfoot, Wetstein, Sepp, a. o., although it is yet very much a question whether all the usages and acts there adduced were already practised precisely in the same way in the time of Jesus; besides, we ought to consider that the Evangelical account by no means makes the impression as if our Lord had celebrated the Passover even to the minutest particulars according to the existing usages. We might rather suppose the opposite, if we consider how He, with all obedience towards the law, observed in respect to the ritual tradition a becoming freedom, and how He was here less concerned for a duly arranged celebration of the feast than for an hour of undisturbed society, composed farewell, and prayer with His own.

Reclined at table.—Although originally, Exo_12:11, a celebration of the Passover standing was prescribed, it afterwards became usual to recline at table during it as at any other meal, apparently a symbol of the freedom which Israel had obtained by the Exodus from Egypt, since only slaves were accustomed to stand during eating. In respect to the arrangement of the places for the company at the table, little can be determined with certainty. From Joh_13:23 it only appears that John has the first place, nearest the Saviour, while Peter must not be looked for immediately next to him, but only near him, since he does not speak to him, but only beckons to him (Luk_13:24), about that which he wished to inquire about of him. The place of the father of the house, who presided at the paschal celebration, our Lord here occupies, and by Luke the very moment is brought before us, Luk_22:15-18, in which He opens the celebration. Perhaps He uttered the words Luk_22:15-16, instead of the customary thanksgiving to God, who had made this day for His people.

Luk_22:15. With desire I have desired.—Hebraism: ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθὐμησα compare the LXX on Num_11:4; Psa_106:14. This very first word gives us to know our Lord’s frame of mind, which in this whole evening remained the prevailing one. His suffering stands so clearly before His soul, that He no longer even expressly announces it, but presupposes the nearness of it as something sufficiently known. He has already, for a considerable time, desired to eat this Passover, and is thinking thereby not of the meal of the New Testament (Tertullian and other fathers), but of the Israelitish feast, which for one and twenty years had gained continually deeper significance and higher value for His heart. He has very peculiarly desired to eat it with His own, μεθ̓ ὑμῶν; He feels that He is not only Redeemer but also Friend of His disciples, and He has especially longed after such a reunion, on account of the institution of the Supper, which is even now to be entered upon. It is as if He forgot the presence of Judas, as if He knew Himself to be in a circle of none but sincere, faithful friends, out of whom He however was soon to depart. In the very beginning therefore He gives to the festal celebration the character of a feast of farewell, and therewith prepares His disciples for the institution of the Supper that commemorates His death.

Luk_22:16. For I say unto you.—It is of course understood that our Lord, before or in the utterance of these words, must have eaten at least something of the meal, as He indeed Himself, Luk_22:15, indicates. He declares here only that after the present one, He will no longer celebrate the Israelitish Passover, ἕως ὅτον πληρωθῆ ἐν τῇ βασιλ. τοῦ θεοῦ; that is, “not until all be fulfilled which must be fulfilled in My kingdom of grace” (Starke); nor is δ καιρός or any such thing to be supplied, but simply τὸ πάσχα. To wish to conclude now from this that our Lord expects a literal Passover at the revelation of His Divine kingdom in glory, is purely arbitrary, since it is plain enough that He here, as often, describes the joy of the perfected Messianic kingdom under the image of a feast. The Passover is only fulfilled when the outer form, the Passover celebration, is entirely broken down, and the eternal idea, a perfect feast of deliverance, is fully realized. The Lord points “to the eternal coronation-feast of His glorified Church, the shining image of the eternal supper, the anticipatory celebration of which in the New Testament covenant meal, He is now about to establish.” Lange.

In the kingdom of God=ἐν παρουσίᾳ μου. As our Saviour in the paschal lamb sees the type of His own immaculate sacrifice, so does He see in the paschal celebration a symbolical setting forth of the perfect joy of heaven.

Luk_22:17. The cup.—There is no other meant by this than the first, with which the festal celebration ex officio had begun. The word εὐχαριστήσας appears to indicate that our Lord uttered the customary blessing: “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the King of the world, who hast created the fruit of the vine;” perhaps we hear the echo thereof in the words, Luk_22:18, ἀπὸ τοῦ γεννήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου. The address: Take this and divide it among yourselves (ἐαυτοῖς), appears, it is true, to indicate that our Lord puts from Himself the enjoyment of the paschal wine. However, we may yet conclude from the following words, Luk_22:18, that our Lord says this after He has previously drank, even as He had in Luk_22:15-16 previously eaten, but in no case does there exist, even on the first interpretation, a ground for considering this expression of our Saviour, even at the first cup, as improbable (Meyer). The drinking of the paschal wine was at all events not prescribed by the law, like the eating of the paschal lamb, on which account our Lord might place Himself composedly above the common forms, without His act therefore having become illegal, irreligious, or offensive.—Until the kingdom of God shall have come.—That is, of course, in glory, as in Luk_22:16. That our Lord repeated the same expression in a somewhat altered form after the institution of the Supper, as is related in Mat_26:29 and Mar_14:25, cannot possibly in itself be incredible.

Luk_22:19. And He took bread.—The institution of the Supper, to the description of which Luke now already passes over, was undoubtedly preceded by the dispute about rank, Luk_22:24-27, and the foot-washing, John 13. Luke visibly makes not the Passover but the Lord’s Supper the centre of his whole delineation, and communicates the dispute about rank, Luk_22:24, apparently only by occasion of the dispute which, Luk_22:23, had arisen through the uncertainty in reference to the person of the traitor. By attentive comparison of the Evangelical accounts, we can decide only for the following arrangement of the different events in the Passover-hall: 1. Opening of the meal (Luk_22:15-18). 2. Almost contemporaneously, or even before this, the dispute about rank, Luk_22:24-27 (comp. Joh_13:1-11). 3. Further remarks of the Saviour (Joh_13:18-20; Luk_22:28-30). Meanwhile the continuation of the celebration, undoubtedly more on the part of the disciples than on the part of our Lord, and participation of the second cup, which is not expressly mentioned in the gospels. 4. The discovery of the traitor (Mat_26:21-25; Mar_14:18-21; Luk_22:21-23; Joh_13:21-30). 5. After his going out, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, in all probability to be inserted Joh_13:34-35. Although in and of itself it may be concluded, from the account of Luke literally taken, that Judas was yet present at the institution of the Lord’s Supper, yet from the comparison of all the other accounts, the opposite becomes evident, so that all dogmatic debates about the enjoyment of the communion by the unworthy Judas, together with all deductions therefrom, are without any firm historical basis.

Luk_22:19. This is My body.—The institution of the Lord’s Supper took place therefore just before the third cup, which in consequence of it was hallowed as the cup of the New Covenant. The Lord takes up one of the remaining cakes of bread, and now speaks the words of institution. As respects the form of the words themselves, it appears at once that Matthew here agrees most closely with Mark, Luke most closely with Paul, 1 Cor. 2:23 seq., so that the genuinely Pauline character of his gospel in this place, also, does not belie itself. Before we quite make up our minds to the opinion that our Lord repeated the words of institution several times, more or less modified, we prefer to consider, as being thoroughly authentic, those words which He according to all the narrators uses, while that which each Evangelist gives in particular can only be judged on grounds of internal probability. With the words This is My body, Luke has τὸ ̔υπἐρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον. These words are on internal grounds probable, even on account of the parallelism with the subsequent “which is shed for you,” and are by no means in conflict with 1Co_11:24, since κλώμενον is decidedly spurious. Agreeably to the connection, διδόμενον can be understood only of a surrender to death, while ὑπέρ here does not of necessity express the idea of representation, but may be translated generally: in commodum vestrum.

This do in remembrance of Me.—These words, at the distribution of the bread, are also given by Luke and Paul alone, but they have internal probability, as well on account of what immediately follows at the giving of the cup, as also of the character of the celebration, which is to be a permanent memorial institution. If we could assume (Stier, Nitzsch, a. o.) that the Pauline words: ἐγώ γὰρ παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου point to a direct revelation, in which the glorified Saviour gave to a letter the formula of institution communicated by Him, then undoubtedly the exactness of the rendering of Luke with its Pauline coloring, would be raised above all doubt. There is however nothing in the words of the Apostle to necessitate us to understand such an extraordinary revelation, since he may have also meant thereby the evangelical tradition that had come to his knowledge.

Luk_22:20. Μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι.—The third cup commonly went round for the first time after the meal was finished, and we do not therefore need, from this expression of itself, to draw the inference that now the paschal celebration for this evening had been entirely ended; on the other hand, there belong thereto a fourth and fifth cup, as well as the singing of the hymn of praise, Mat_26:30. The institution of the Supper is therefore taken up as a special act into the course of the paschal celebration, although it is not probable that this last, at least as concerns the eating, was yet continued after the reception of the communion bread. Our Lord (Matthew and Mark) now names this cup τὸ αἱ̈μά μου τῆς διαθήκης, while He according to Luke and Paul speaks of ἡ καινή διαθήκη ὲν τῷ αἵματι μου. But whichever expression may have been the most original, yet the signification of it is not hard to understand. As the Old Covenant was not established without blood (Exo_24:8, comp. Heb_9:16), so through the blood of Christ was the New Covenant, which God now concluded with man, Jer_31:31-34, confirmed and sealed. Of this blood it is said (Matthew and Mark), that it was shed ὑπὲρ or περὶ πολλῶν, according to Luke, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐκχυνόμενον. We might almost suppose that the latter was the original, the former, on the other hand, a later ecclesiastically established formula. But in no case is the application of the blood limited by the πολλῶν, as if it had taken place for many and not for all, but on the other hand the purpose is thereby as much as possible extended, as embracing not only the Apostles, but in addition many with them.

If we consider the whole formula of the distribution of the bread and wine, we believe that we must understand it so as to explain the τοῦτο as referring to the broken piece of bread, and to the wine poured into the cup which He reaches to His disciples. That our Lord did not in His language once use the much controverted ἐστίν, is as certain as that it must necessarily be understood to complete the sense. He means that the broken bread which He hands to them in this instant represents His body, and that that (τοῦτο ποιεῖτε) which they were just about to do,—the eating of the bread handed to them, namely,—they should do for the remembrance of Him. The same is the case with the cup, &c. From the statements of Luke and Paul it appears yet far more plainly than from those of Matthew and Mark, that our Lord here ordains a permanent meal of remembrance for those that confess Him, even in following ages. How fitting, finally, this whole symbolical act already was for the necessities of the disciples at that moment, appears at once so soon as we even in some measure transport ourselves into their state of mind, and consider what hard trials they were to experience even in the same night.

Luk_22:21. But behold the hand.—“This allusion to the traitor (according to Luke, in distinction from the rest without any more particular specification), Luke has in the wrong place.” Meyer. Evidently he is merely concerned to give a condensed reference to a particular which he will neither pass over entirely nor yet communicate in greater detail. That, in Mat_26:21-25, only a first preliminary designation of the traitor appears, which took place even before the institution of the Supper, supposed to have subsequently taken place in the presence of Judas, and which was finally succeeded by yet a second more particular designation, which Luke alone, Luk_22:22, communicates (Stier), we cannot possibly assume. The consternation and the whispering of the Eleven, Luk_22:23, is only comprehensible if they now for the first time hear anything of it. Least of all can we understand a double designation of the traitor uttered on two different evenings, or a repetition of the intimation on one and the same evening. There remains, therefore, no other choice than to assume that Luke has communicated our Lord’s declaration concerning Judas more κατὰ διάνοιαν than κατὰ ῥητόν, as indeed appears even from the incomplete form in which he, Luk_22:22, has noted down the Woe uttered upon Judas (comp. Mat_24:24; Mar_14:21). It is especially the beginning of the discovery of the traitor, as previously the beginning of the paschal celebration, which Luke places in the foreground.

With Me on the table.

Very fine is the remark of Bengel: “mecum, non vobiscum ait. Proditorem igitur a reliquis discipulis segregans, sibi uni jam cum isto, tanquam hoste quidem, rem esse docet.” If, however, we assume that Luke relates merely the main fact, then it will hardly be necessary to paraphrase with Bengel a “manus quœ sacram cœnam sumpsit.” Quite as well may we here insert in thought: The hand which but just now, as an instrument in the eating of the Passover, was stretched out upon the table. As well the deep affliction as the displeasure of our Lord exhibits itself in these words; but very peculiarly does His long-suffering reveal itself in this, that He yet endures in His presence the traitor whose shameful plan He penetrates. As to the rest, the formula of commencement that now follows: πλὴν ἰδον̓, which plainly shows that the discourse passes over to something else, of itself entitles us to give up any direct connection of Luk_22:21 with Luk_22:20. According to our view, this expression utters in a freer form the same thing which we read Mat_26:21; Mar_14:18; Joh_13:21, while Luk_22:22 (see parallel) appears again to have been spoken some moments after.

Luk_22:22. For truly the Son of Man goeth.—Ὅτι states the ground why the Lord could again, as already previously, Mat_26:2, speak of a παραδιδόναι “The Son of Man,” that is, “goes, it is true, κατὰ τὸ ὡρισμένον” (Matthew and Mark, καθὼς γέγραπται, and that περὶ αὐτοῦ). According to the counsel of God predicted in the prophetical Scriptures, the Son of Man must necessarily die, but by no means does this take away the responsibility of him who threatens voluntarily to become the instrument of His death (πλὴν οὐαί). A word of warning for Judas before he took the decisive step, in order even on the verge of the abyss to open his eyes. With a fearful mixture of compassion and intense displeasure, our Lord is absorbed in the fate which impends over the traitor. Perfectly conscious of His own dignity, He feels that no other crime can be placed by the side of this; fully acquainted with the secrets of eternity, He sees that no restoration from this terrible wretchedness is to be expected. Too strong would the expression have been which our Lord (according to Matthew and Mark alone) yet adds, “it had been better for that man if he had never been born,” if He had seen glimmering even in the extremest distance one single ray of light, in the night of the eternal doom pronounced upon Judas. “It is the immeasurable fall and the immeasurable curse which He so designates; the Woe which He pronounces upon Judas is a deep Woe of His soul; He profoundly pities that man even back unto his birth. He is troubled so much about the time and eternity of this man, that thereat He can forget His own woe which that man is preparing for Him.” Lange. [This declaration of our Lord: “Good were it for that man if he had never been born,” is in reality the strongest argument in the whole Bible against the doctrine of a final restoration of all men, an argument which it appears to me that we have a right to regard as perfectly conclusive.7—C. C. S.]

Luk_22:23. And they began.—Comp. Mat_26:22; Mar_14:19; Joh_13:22 seq. A vivid representation of the disputation which soon arose among them. That Luke does not bring the tragic scene completely to a close, is a new proof that he is by no means here concerned for the completeness of his account. Comp. further the Exegetical and Critical remarks on the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. See on the parallel passages in Matthew, Mark, and John. Worthy of consideration also are the representations of the Last Supper of our Lord given by Christian art, not only the world-renowned one of Leonardo da Vinci, but also of Giotto, Ghirlandajo, Signorelli, Gorgione, Raphael, Juan de Juanes, Carlo Dolce, Poussin, Thorwaldsen, and others.

2. Our Lord’s longing for the eating of this Passover with His disciples, is one of the most affecting revelations of His all-surpassing love of sinners, which are preserved to us in the Gospel. It is as if He longs for the death which is to give life to the world. But, furthermore, the prospect given on this occasion of a perfect festal celebration in the kingdom of God, encourages us also to the assertion that His own blessedness, capable of infinite increase, will only then be fully perfected when the kingdom of God shall have fully come, and that He does not less long to see His people with Him than they can ever long to be with Him.

3. Not sufficiently can we admire our Lord’s wisdom and greatness which become visible in the institution of the Lord’s Supper. This is meant to assure the disciples, who had never been able to believe in His dying, of His impending death; it is to place before them this death, which was so offensive to them, in the most comforting light, εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτ. It is finally to oblige them to a continual remembrance of this death, and thus to bind them most intimately together with one another, as well as with the Lord, and with the believers of all following times. The institution of the Lord’s Supper is no fruit of a momentary inspiration, or of a sudden excitement of feeling, but is evidently the result of a previously carefully developed plan. With the sure knowledge of His approaching suffering our Lord unites the clear consciousness of the blessed effect of His death; with His love for His disciples, which causes Him entirely to forget Himself, a wisdom which determines Him even during this meal, and at the right hour of the same, to prepare a strengthening cordial for their faith, their love and hope; with His care for them a salutary institution for the maintaining, uniting, and training of His Church for all following time. Never can His Church be thankful enough to Him for the rich treasures which He bequeathed to her in this institution.

4. That the Holy Communion, which is intended for the union of all believers in Jesus Christ, has been the very cause of the most intense controversy, is certainly one of the most mournful phenomena which the history of Christendom and the Reformation has to show. Nowhere does the apple of discord make a more mournful impression than when it is thrown upon the table of love. So much the more fortunate is it that the blessing of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is not necessarily dependent on the interpretation of the words of institution. In reference to this last we have only to place ourselves in the position of the disciples, and to inquire how they, it is likely, understood the Master, in order immediately to recognize the full preposterousness of the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Therewith, however, we do not mean that the strictly Lutheran or the old Reformed interpretation does not yet leave many difficulties unsettled. Strauss was not wrong when he, in this respect, more impartially than many a dogmatic author, wrote: “To the writers of our gospels the bread in the Lord’s Supper was the body of Christ; but had any one, therefore, asked them whether the bread was changed, they would have denied it; had any one spoken to them of a receiving the body with and under the species of bread, they would not have understood this; had one concluded that therefore the bread merely signified the body, they would not have found themselves satisfied with that.” It could be wished that all Christians would unite in this proposition, that in the Lord’s Supper there takes place not only a symbolical celebration of the death of Christ, but a real communication of Christ Himself to believers, so that He at this table gives Himself to them to be beheld and to be enjoyed in the whole fulness of His saving love. That in John 6. the idea of the Lord’s Supper stands in the background, although the instruction there given does not refer immediately to the Communion, hardly admits of doubt, 1Co_10:16-17. If only the mystery of the real personal communion with Christ is believingly acknowledged as the mystery of the Holy Supper, then the subordinate question whether this self-communication of our Lord to His people takes place in a corporeal or exclusively in a spiritual way, need not really divide the members of the Evangelical Church forever from each other. [Compare here the Doctrinal and Ethical reflections of Dr. Lange and Dr. Schaff in the Commentary on Matthew, pp. 473–475.—C. C. S.] That the decidedly Zuinglian interpretation has its truth, but not the full truth, is recognized more and more generally by believing theology in the Reformed Church. Compare the admirable monograph of Ebrard, 1848, and on the Lutheran side that of Kahnis, 1851, to say nothing of the manifold observations on this subject in Rudelbach and Guerike’s Zeitschcrift für Lutherische Theologie. In a critical way, the doctrine of the Supper has been in the most recent period investigated with a rather negative result by L. J. Rückert at Jena. A very weighty article has been furnished by Julius Muller in Herzog’s Real-Encyclopädie. As to the rest, we must refer the reader to the history of doctrines.

5. That the discovery of the traitor belongs to the most affecting and extraordinary moments in the life of our Lord, we should believe even if this did not clearly appear in the Evangelical accounts, nay, even in the brief statement of Luke. So much the more adorable is His composure, long-suffering, and self-control on the one hand, His grave earnestness, His displeasure, and His wrath on the other hand. The first separation which here goes on in this circle of the disciples between light and darkness, is the beginning of a continuous process of purification, and the prophecy of the κρίσις of the great day.

6. “He hath heartily desired to die for us—who would not heartily desire to live in Him? Christ is more eager to make us partakers of His benefits than we to receive them from Him.” Tauler.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The last assembling of the Lord with His disciples.—The longing of our Lord for the last Passover: 1. How it exhibits itself; 2. from what it springs; 3. to what it quickens.—The paschal cup the last bodily refreshment of our Lord before His suffering.—The feast of the redeemed in the perfected kingdom of God, the fulfilment and glorification of the Israelitish Passover.—We also have the Paschal Lamb, that is, Christ, sacrificed for us, 1Co_5:7.—The coincidence and the diversity, the agreement and the difference between the Passover of the Old and the Supper of the New Covenant. Through both: 1. A perfect redemption is sealed; 2. a blessed fellowship founded; 3. a glorious prospect opened: the Passover points to the Communion, the Communion to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, Rev_19:9.—The noblest gifts of nature sanctified into symbols of grace.—The atonement of love.—The institution of the Lord’s Supper in its high significance: 1. For our Lord; 2. for His Apostles; 3. for all following times.—The fellowship in the Communion: 1. Of our Lord with His people; 2. of believers with one another; 3. of earth with heaven.—“This do in remembrance of Me”: 1. A pregnant command; 2. a holy command; 3. a salutary command.—The feast of the New Covenant: 1. The fulfilment of that which is only intimated in the Old Covenant; 2. the prophecy of that which shall hereafter be enjoyed at the heavenly feast.—The institution of the Lord’s Supper a revelation of the Prophetical, the Priestly, and the Kingly character of our Lord.—The high significance which our Lord, in distinction from every other stage of His earthly manifestation, attributes to His suffering and death.—The institution of the Lord’s Supper essentially inexplicable to him who in the death of our Lord sees only a confirmation of His teaching, an exalted example, a striking revelation of the forgiving love of God, but no actual expiatory sacrifice.—The Lord’s Supper: 1. A memorial supper; 2. a covenant supper; 3. a Supper of love.—How our Lord in the Communion gives Himself to His own: 1. To be beheld; 2. to be enjoyed; 3. to be adored.—The devil among the disciples, Joh_6:70.—Jesus over against Judas: 1. His immaculate purity over against the enormous guilt; 2. His infallible knowledge over against the deep blindness; 3. His unshakable composure over against the painful disquiet; 4. His measureless love over against the burning hatred of the traitor.—Jesus the Searcher of all hearts.—The discovery of the traitor; it shows us: 1. What our Lord once suffered here on earth; 2. what He now is in heaven; 3. what He shall hereafter do at the end of the world.—Jesus glorified by the way in which He discovers the traitor, comp. Joh_13:30-31. He reveals in this way: 1. A knowledge deceived by no illusive guise; 2. an affliction marred by no petty weakness; 3. a love cooled by no wickedness; 4. an anger accompanied with no ignoble passion.—The night of the betrayal: 1. From its dark; 2. from its bright, side.—Even on the Communion-table, as on the Paschal board, our Lord sees the hand of His betrayer stretched out.—Here is more than David, Psa_41:10.—When our Lord utters a general warning, no one of His disciples may remain wholly indifferent, but each one is under obligation to enter into himself.

Starke:—Bibl. Wirt.:—Oh, how great a longing hath Jesus had for man’s salvation !—Quesnel:—One communion prepares the way for another; they that have here received Christ sacramentally shall there be celestially united with Him.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—All our food we should, after Jesus’ example, hallow by prayer and thanksgiving, 1Co_10:31.—The foretaste of Divine goodness is even here so sweet and pleasant, what will the perfect enjoyment of blessedness be?—The Holy Communion must, in danger of life, and in the pains of death, be our best cordial and refreshment.—The Lord’s Supper without the cup a maimed one.—Everything, it is true, takes place according to the providence of God, but not always according to the will of God.—Genuine test of a true Christian, to do his enemies good and let them eat with him, even at his table, out of his dish, Rom_12:20.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Nothing more necessary than self-examination.—We cannot answer for our own hearts without the grace of God.—Many a one thinks not that that shall come to pass with him which yet does come to pass.—Heubner:—When separated, let it be the spirit of Jesus that unites our hearts.—The hope of eternal communion in the presence of Jesus lightens separation to the Christian.—The righteous are ever concerned lest there should be anything evil hidden in them.—Christ Himself ascribes to His death atoning power.—Christ’s love would gather His own around Him.—F. Arens:—The Communion of our Lord: 1. The blessed mystery; 2. the rich springs of blessings; 3. the requisite condition of soul.—Florey:—The Holy Supper and feast of love: 1. Love has founded it; 2. of love does it remind us; 3. love celebrates it; 4. love blesses it.—The communion of our Lord the most admirable hour of solemnity in the house of God: 1. An hour of holy remembrance: 2. of blessed communion; 3. of loving brotherly union.—Harless:—The tree of the new creation of Christ.—Arndt:—The discovery of the traitor a revelation: 1. Of Divine omniscience; 2. of holy love; 3. of fixed resolution.—Krummacher:—Passions-buch: the denunciation of woe: 1. The awfulness of this denunciation; 2. the limits of its applicability.—J. Saurin, Nouv. Serm. i. p. Luke 45:—Sur la sentence de nôtre Seigneur contr. Judas.—Van der Palm:—The greatness of our Lord visible in the institution of the Holy Communion.—W. Hofacker:—.Where does the holy meal of the Lord place us?—Thomasius:—(Judas); The steps to the abyss: 1. The evil lust in the heart; 2. the sin against the conscience; 3. the judgment of reprobacy.—Böckel:—Jesus over against His betrayers.

Footnotes:

[3]Luk_22:14.—The δώδεκα of the Recepta is, with Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Meyer, Tregelles, Alford,] omitted, according to B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] 157, Sahid, Itala, &c.

[4]Luk_22:16.—Van Oosterzee translates: “eat it,” reading αὐτό instead of the Recepta, ἐξ αὐτοῦ, with Lachmann, Tregelles, Alford, according to B., L., and various Cursives and Versions, including the Vulgate. Cod. Sin. also reads αὐτό. Van Oosterzee adduces Tischendorf’s authority, but Tischendorf in his 7th ed. has reverted to the Recepta, which Meyer also defends.—C. C. S.]

[5]Luk_22:17.—The τό, which A., D., K., M., U., and some Cursives read, and which is also received by Lachmann, appears to have crept quite early into many manuscripts, from the liturgical form, but not to be genuine.

[6]Luk_22:22.—The Recepta has καί; Tischendorf, according to B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] L., &c., ὅτι. [Meyer remarks that the OTI was overlooked on account of the following ΟΤΙ, and then the lack of a connective being felt, καί was subsequently interpolated.—C. C. S.]

[7][Dr. Schaff, in his book on the Sin against the Holy Ghost, considers this passage conclusive against the apokatastasis, since an endless happiness even after millions of years of pain “would be preferable to non-existence.”]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE PASSOVER

Mat 26:20; Mar 14:17; Luk 22:14-18. It is now about 6 P. M. on Thursday preceding our Lord’s crucifixion, when they proceed to eat the Passover meal. “And when the hour arrived, He and His twelve apostles along with Him sat down at the table. And He said to them, With desire I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffered; for I say unto you, that I no more eat of it until it may be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” This is really not only His last Passover meal, but the last of all that He ate before He laid down His life. I do not wonder that He intensely desired to enjoy this Passover with His disciples, an institution so significant to every faithful Jew, commemorative of their national birth, and of course pre-eminently significant to the Savior, because it emblematized His expiatory death, then looking Him in the face, as the swift hours rolled on and brought the bloody morrow. As the lamb died to provide that meal for the teeming thousands of Israel to feast upon, so the Lamb of God must die in order that the millions of earth may not starve through all eternity, but feast upon that Passover meal through the flight of eternal ages. The Passover “was fulfilled in the kingdom of God” when Jesus bled and died on the cross, the Great Antitype typified by the millions of bleeding lambs the last fifteen hundred years. O what rivers of blood — quantity symbolizing quality!

“And receiving the cup, blessing it, He said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves; for I say unto you, that I shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God may come.” There is a sense in which the kingdom of God has been in the world from the days of Eden, as the redemptive scheme was launched before the expulsion out of Paradise. The advent of Jesus into the world was a glorious epoch in the kingdom; but you must remember He came to die to redeem the lost. Hence His first advent culminates at Calvary, the grandest and most important epoch in the kingdom of God, and here denominated the coming of the kingdom.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22:14 sat down together at the table (or reclined together): The Jewish people followed Hellenistic practice at banquets by reclining on couches (see study note on John 13:23).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_22:14-18. On Luk_22:14 comp. Mat_26:20; Mar_14:17. Describitur, Luk_22:15-18, quaedam quasi prolusio s. coenae, coll. Mat_26:29, Bengel.

Luk_22:15. ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα] I have earnestly longed, Gen_31:30. See Winer, p. 413 [E. T. 584]. This longing rested on the fact (see Luk_22:16) that this Passover meal was actually His last, and as such was to be of special importance and sacredness. Thus He could only earnestly wish that His passion should not begin before the Passover; hence: πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν.

τοῦτο] pointing to: this, which is already there.

Luk_22:16. οὐκέτι κ.τ.λ.] namely, after the present meal.

ἐξ αὐτοῦ] of the Passover.

ἕως ὅτου κ.τ.λ.] till that it (the Passover) shall be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. The rationalistic interpretation: sed aliquando vos in coelo mecum gaudiis propriis ac summis perfruemini (Kuinoel), is purely arbitrary. Jesus means actually a Passover (specifically such a one, not merely the Messianic feasts in general, Mat_8:11; Luk_22:30; Luk_14:15) in the Messiahs kingdom, which should hold the same relation to the temporal Passover as that which is perfect (absolute) holds to the incomplete. This corresponds to the idea of the new world (of the ἀποκατάστασις, παλιγγενεσία), and of the perfected theocracy in the αἰὼν μέλλων. Comp. on Mat_26:29. The impersonal view (Paulus, Baumgarten-Crusius), according to which the meaning is said to be: till the establishment of the kingdom shall be brought about, is an evasion opposed to the context. Completely without foundation, moreover, Schenkel says that the adoption of the Gentiles into the divine covenant is the fulfilment of the Old Testament Passover.

Luk_22:17 f. According to Luke, Jesus, after He had spoken quite at the beginning of the meal the words, Luk_22:15-16, receives a cup handed to Him (δεξάμενος, not the same as λαβών, Luk_22:19), and after giving thanks hands it to the disciples that they might share it (the wine in it) among themselves (observe the emphatic ἑαυτοῖς), for He assures them that He should certainly not drink, etc. He therefore, according to Luke, declines to drink of the Passover wine, wherefore also in Luk_22:18 the absolute οὐ μή, but in Luk_22:16 the relative οὐκέτι οὐ μή, is used.

REMARK.

Although this refusal to drink the wine, which is not to be explained away, is in itself psychologically conceivable in so deeply moved and painful a state of mind, yet it is improbable in consideration of the characteristic element of the Passover. In respect of this, the drinking of the Passover wine was certainly so essential, and, in the consciousness of the person celebrating the rite, so necessary, that the not drinking, and especially on the part of the Host Himself, would have appeared absolutely as contrary to the law, irreligious, scandalous, an interruption which, on the part of Jesus, can hardly be credible. Since then Mark and Matthew, moreover, have nothing at all about a refusal of the wine, but rather do not bring in the assurance, οὐ μὴ πίω κ.τ.λ., until the conclusion of the meal, Mar_14:25, Mat_26:29; and since Matthew uses the emphatic ἀπʼ ἄρτι, wherein is intimated that Jesus had just drunk with them once more,the narrative of Luke, Luk_22:17-18, is to be regarded as not original, and it is to be assumed that Jesus indeed spoke, Luk_22:15-16, at the beginning of the meal (in opposition to Kuinoel and Paulus), but that what is found in Mat_26:29 has been removed back by the tradition on account of the analogy of Luk_22:16, and placed after Luk_22:16, beside which Luk_22:17 easily appeared as a link, without the necessity of attributing to Luke the construction of a piece of mosaic from a twofold source (as Holtzmann wishes to do), especially as Luk_22:17 is not yet the cup of the Lords Supper. According to Baur, Evang. p. 482 f., Luke must have been led by 1 Corinthians 10, where, moreover, the ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας is emphatically placed first, to distinguish two acts in the Lords Supper (comp. also Ritschl, Evang. Marcions, p. 108), one with the leading idea of κοινωνία, and the other with that of ἀνάμνησις. He must have here represented the first by the help of Mat_26:29. He must thus probably still have expressly brought in the supposed leading idea of κοινωνία, as Paul also has done in respect of the bread. In general, the use made by Luke of the Pauline Epistles, which here even Hilgenfeld (comp. Holtzmann, p. 237) considers as unmistakeable, is quite incapable of proof.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 22:14-18 . Prelude to the Lord’s Supper (Mat 26:20 , Mar 14:17 ).

Luk 22:14 . οἱ ἀπόστολοι , the apostles , for disciples in parallels. This designation for the Twelve, the initiative ascribed to Jesus (Luk 22:8 ), and the desire of Jesus spoken of in next ver. all fit into each other and indicate a wish on the part of the evangelist to invest what he here narrates with great significance. He seems to write with the practice of the Apostolic Church in view in reference to the Holy Communion.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. The Supper: Luk 22:14-23.

There are three elements which form the material of this narrative in the three Syn.: 1 st. The expression of the personal feelings of Jesus. With this Luke begins, and Matthew and Mark close. 2 d. The institution of the Holy Supper. It forms the centre of the narrative in the three Syn. 3 d. The disclosure of the betrayal, and the indication of the traitor. With this Luke ends, and Matthew and Mark begin. It is easy to see how deeply the facts themselves were impressed on the memory of the witnesses, but how secondary the interest was which tradition attached to chronological order. The myth, on the contrary, would have created the whole of a piece, and the result would be wholly different. Luke’s order appears preferable. It is natural for Jesus to begin by giving utterance to His personal impressions, Luk 22:15-18. With the painful feeling of approaching separation there is connected, by an easily understood bond, the institution of the Holy Supper, that sign which is in a way to perpetuate Christ’s visible presence in the midst of His own after His departure, Luk 22:19-20. Finally, the view of the close communion contracted by this solemn act between the disciples, causes the feeling of the contrast between them and Judas, so agonizing to Him, to break forth into expression. Such is the connection of the third part. It is far from probable, as it seems to us, that Jesus began by speaking of this last subject (Matthew and Mark). John omits the first two elements. The first was not essential to his narrative. The second, the institution of the Holy Supper, was sufficiently well known from tradition. We have, in our Commentaire sur l’évangile de Jean, placed this latter event at the time indicated by Luk 13:2 in that Gospel (δείπνου γενομένου). The feet-washing which followed necessarily coincides with the indication of the traitor in Luke, and with the subsequent conversation, Luk 22:24 et seq.; and the two accounts thus meet in the common point, the prediction of Peter’s denial (Luke, Luk 22:31; John, Luk 22:38).

As in what follows there are repeated allusions to the rites of the Paschal Supper, we must rapidly trace the outlines of that Supper as it was celebrated in our Saviour’s time. First step: After prayer, the father of the house sent round a cup full of wine (according to others, each one had his cup), with this invocation: “Blessed be Thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who hast created the fruit of the vine!” Next there were passed from one to another the bitter herbs (a sort of salad), which recalled to mind the sufferings of the Egyptian bondage. These were eaten after being dipped in a reddish sweet sauce (Charoseth), made of almonds, nuts, figs, and other fruits; commemorating, it is said, by its colour the hard labour of brick-making imposed on the Israelites, and by its taste, the divine alleviations which Jehovah mingles with the miseries of His people.

Second step: The father circulates a second cup, and then explains, probably in a more or less fixed liturgical form, the meaning of the feast, and of the rites by which it is distinguished.

Third step: The father takes two unleavened loaves (cakes), breaks one of them, and places the pieces of it on the other. Then, uttering a thanksgiving, he takes one of the pieces, dips it in the sauce, and eats it, taking with it a piece of the Paschal lamb, along with bitter herbs. Each one follows his example. This is the feast properly so called. The lamb forms the principal dish. The conversation is free. It closes with the distribution of a third cup, called the cup of blessing, because it was accompanied with the giving of thanks by the father of the house.

Fourth step: The father distributes a fourth cup; then the Hallel is sung (Psalms 113-118). Sometimes the father added a fifth cup, which was accompanied with the singing of the great Hallel (Psalms 120-127; according to others, 135-137; according to Delitzsch, Psa 130:6).

Must it be held, with Langen, that Jesus began by celebrating the entire Jewish ceremony, in order to connect with it thereafter the Christian Holy Supper; or did He transform, as He went along, the Jewish Supper in such a way as to convert it into the sacred Supper of the N. T.? This second view seems to us the only tenable one. For, 1. It was during the course of the feast, ἐσθιόντων αὐτῶν (Matthew and Mark), and not after the feast (as Luke says in speaking of the only cup), that the bread of the Holy Supper must have been distributed. 2. The singing of the hymn spoken of by Mark and Matthew can only be that of the Hallel, and it followed the institution of the Holy Supper.

1 st. Luk 22:14-18. Jesus opens the feast by communicating to the disciples His present impressions. This first step corresponds to the first of the Paschal feast. The hour (Luk 22:14) is that which He had indicated to His disciples, and which probably coincided with the usual hour of the sacred feast. According to the law (Exo 12:17), the Passover should have been eaten standing. But custom had introduced a change in this particular. Some Rabbins pretend to justify this deviation, by saying that to stand is the posture of a slave; that, once restored to liberty by the going forth from Egypt, Israel was called to eat sitting. The explanation is ingenious, but devised after the fact. The real reason was, that the feast had gradually taken larger proportions.

There is in the first saying of Jesus, which Luke alone has preserved (Luk 22:15), a mixture of profound joy and sorrow. Jesus is glad that He can celebrate this holy feast once more, which He has determined by His own instrumentality to transform into a permanent memorial of His person and work; but on the other hand, it is His last Passover here below. ᾿Επιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα, a frequent form in the LXX., corresponding to the Hebrew construction of the inf. absolute with the finite verb. It is a sort of reduplication of the verbal idea. Jesus, no doubt, alludes to all the measures which He has required to take to secure the joy of those quiet hours despite the treachery of His disciple.

Could the expression this Passover possibly denote a feast at which the Paschal lamb was wanting, and which was only distinguished from ordinary suppers by unleavened bread? Such is the view of Caspari and Andreae, and the view which I myself maintained (Comment. sur Jean, t. ii. p. 634). Indeed, the number of lambs or kids might turn out to be insufficient, and strangers find themselves in the dilemma either of celebrating the feast without a lamb, or not celebrating the Passover at all. Thus in Mischnah Pesachim 10 there is express mention of a Paschal Supper without a lamb, and at which the unleavened bread is alone indispensable. Nevertheless, there is nothing to prevent us from holding that, as we have said, the two disciples prepared the lamb in a strictly private manner. It would be difficult to explain Luke’s expression, to eat this Passover, without the smallest reference to the lamb at this feast.

By the future Passover in the kingdom of God (Luk 22:16) might be understood the Holy Supper as it is celebrated in the Church. But the expression, “I will not any more eat thereof until...,” and the parall. Luk 22:18, do not admit of this spiritualistic interpretation. Jesus means to speak of a new banquet which shall take place after the consummation of all things. The Holy Supper is the bond of union between the Israelitish and typical Passover, which was reaching its goal, and the heavenly and divine feast, which was yet in the distant future. Does not the spiritual salvation, of which the Supper is the memorial, form in reality the transition from the external deliverance of Israel to that salvation at once spiritual and external which awaits the glorified Church?

After this simple and touching introduction, Jesus, in conformity with the received custom, passed the first cup (Luk 22:17), accompanying it with a thanksgiving, in which He no doubt paraphrased freely the invocation uttered at the opening of the feast by the father of the house, and which we have quoted above.—Δεξάμενος, receiving, seems to indicate that He took the cup from the hands of one of the attendants who held it out to Him (after having filled it). The distribution (διαμερίσατε) may have taken place in two ways, either by each drinking from the common cup, or by their all emptying the wine of that cup into their own. The Greek term would suit better this second view. Did Jesus Himself drink? The pron. ἑαυτοῖς, among yourselves, might seem unfavourable to this idea; yet the words, I will not drink until..., speak in favour of the affirmative. Was it not, besides, a sign of communion from which Jesus could hardly think of refraining on such an occasion? The expression fruit of the vine, Luk 22:18, was an echo of the terms of the ritual Paschal prayer. In the mouth of Jesus, it expressed the feeling of contrast between the present terrestrial system, and the glorified creation which was to spring from the palingenesia (Mat 19:28; comp. Rom 8:31 et seq.). The phrase, I will not drink, corresponds to the I will not any more eat of Luk 22:16. But there is a gradation. Luk 22:16 means, This is my last Passover, the last year of my life; Luk 22:18, This is my last Supper, my last day. These words are the text from which Paul has taken the commentary, till He come (1Co 11:26). They are probably also the ground into which was wrought the famous tradition of Papias regarding the fabulous vines of the millennial reign. In this example, the difference becomes palpable between the sobriety of the tradition preserved in our Gospels, and the legendary exuberance of that of the times which followed. Luk 22:29 of Matthew , 25 of Mark reproduce Luke’s saying in a somewhat different form, and one which lends itself still better to the amplification which we find in Papias.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The evening and twilight, at what time this supper was to be kept.

Christ having ended the Passover according to the order of the Law, forewarneth them that this shall be his last banquet with them, after the manner and necessity of this life.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the hour--about six P.M. Between three and this hour the lamb was killed (Exo 12:6, Margin)

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. And when the hour was come] That is, the evening. See Mt 26:20, and Mr 14:17.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14-18) And when the hour was come.—See Notes on Mat_26:20; Mar_14:17. The other Gospels name “the evening.” St. Luke uses simply “the hour” as referring to the appointed time, “in the evening” (literally, between the two evenings, i.e., the close of twilight; see Exo_12:6), for the “killing,” the lamb being eaten afterwards as soon as it was roasted. It is characteristic of the comparatively late date of St. Luke’s narrative that he speaks of “the twelve Apostles,” while the other two reports speak of “the disciples.” (Comp. Luk_9:10; Luk_17:5; Luk_24:10.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14-38. The last Supper.

14. when the hour was come] If the meal was intended to be directly Paschal, this would be “between the two evenings” (Exo_12:6); a phrase interpreted by the Jews to mean between three and six, and by the Samaritans to mean between twilight and sunset. Probably Jesus and His disciples, anxious to avoid dangerous notice, would set forth towards dusk.

he sat down] Rather, reclined. The custom of eating the Passover standing had long been abandoned.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he said unto them,.... The twelve apostles, as they were eating the passover, it being usual to talk and converse much at such a time; See Gill on Mat 26:21.

With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; not for the sake of eating; for though he was traduced as a glutton, and did often eat and drink in a free and familiar way, both at the tables of Pharisees, and of publicans and sinners; yet he was not a man given to appetite; witness his fast of forty days and forty nights, and his great negligence of himself, which sometimes obliged his disciples to pray him to eat; see Joh 4:31. Indeed, according to the Jewish canons, it was not judged proper that a man should eat much on the day before the passover, that he might be hungry, and eat the passover, "with desire" (l), or with an appetite. Our Lord may allude to this; but this was not the thing he meant; nor merely does he say this on account of the passover, as it was God's ordinance; though as he was made under the law, and that was in his heart, he had a great regard to it, and a delight in it, which he had shown in his frequent and constant attendance on it from his youth: but though he had kept many passovers, yet of none of them did he say what he does of this, which was his fourth passover from his entrance on his public ministry, and his last: two reasons are suggested in the text why he so greatly desired to eat this passover; the one is, because he should eat it "with" his disciples; an emphasis lies on the phrase, "with you", to whom, and not so much to the passover, and the eating of that, was his desire; as it is to all his people: it was so from everlasting, when he desired them as his spouse and bride; and in time, when he became incarnate, suffered, died, and gave himself for them: his desire is towards them whilst in unregeneracy, that they may be converted; and to them when converted, notwithstanding all their backslidings and revoltings. His desire is to their persons, and the comeliness and beauty of them, which he himself has put upon them; and to their graces, and the exercise of them, with which he is ravished; and to their company and communion with them, which he chooses and delights in: and his desire is towards their being with him to all eternity, and which he delighted in the fore views of from eternity; and is the joy set before him, and which carried him through his sufferings and death; and is the amount and accomplishment of all his prayers and intercession: and the other reason of this his strong desire in the text is, that this was the last passover, and that his sufferings and death were just at hand, and which he longed to have over; not that he desired these sufferings, for the sake of them, which could not be agreeable to, and desirable by his human nature; but because of the effects of them; since hereby justice would be satisfied, the law would be fulfilled, sin atoned for, and the salvation of his elect obtained; for whom he bore the strongest affection, and whom he loved with a love of complacency, and whose salvation he most earnestly desired, and even sufferings for the sake of it.

(l) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Pesachim, c. 10. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

When the hour was come - The hour of eating the paschal lamb, which was in the evening. See the notes at Mat 26:20.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 14-38. The Last Supper.

And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. The preparation had been made in the "large upper room," and the Lord and the twelve sat down, or rather reclined on the couches covered with carpets, the tables before them laid with the dishes peculiar to the solemn Passover Supper, each dish telling its part of the old loved story of the great deliverance. There was the lamb the Paschal victim, and the bitter herbs, the unleavened bread and the reddish sweet conserve of fruits commemorating, it is said, by its color the hard labors of brickmaking, one of the chief burdens of the Egyptian bondage into which the Blaster dipped the sop, and gave it to the traitor-apostle. (Joh_13:26) The Lord reclined, probably, at the middle table; St. John next to him; St. Peter most likely on the other side; and the others reclining in an order corresponding more or less closely with the threefold division of the twelve into groups of four. The Supper itself had its special forms and ceremonies, which the Lord transformed as they proceeded in such a way as to change it into the sacred Supper of the New Testament.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matt. xxvi, 20; Mark xiv, 17.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And when the

For the order of events on the night of the last passover, (See Scofield "Mat 26:20").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. What ardency of desire, and vehemency of affection our holy Lord expresses, to celebrate the passover with his disciples, and to administer the sacramental supper to them before he left them: With desire have I desired to eat with you before I suffer.

Thence learn, that it is very necessary, when sufferings do appear, especially when death does approach, to have immediate recourse to the table of the Lord, which affords both an antidote against fear, and is a restorative to our faith. Christ, the night before he suffered, communicated with his disciples.

Observe, 2. The unexampled boldness of the impudent traitor Judas; though he had sold his Master, he presumes to sit down at the table with him, and with the other disciples: had the presence of Judas polluted this ordinance to any but himself, doubtless our Saviour would not have suffered him to approach unto it.

It teaches us, that although nothing be more ordinary than for unholy persons to press into the holy ordinances of God which they have no right (while such) to approach unto, yet their presence pollutes the ordinances only to themselves. Holy persons are not polluted by their sins, therefore ought not to be discouraged from coming, by their presence.

Observe, 3. Christ did not name Judas, and say, Oh thou perfidious traitor; but, Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. Doubtless Christ did not name him, because he would not drive him to despair, but draw him to repentance.

But, Lord, thou knows in what thou names us not. Oh how sad is it for any of the family, who pretend friendship with thee, to conspire against thee; and after they have eat of thy bread, to lift up the heel against thee!

Observe, 4. That though Judas was not named, yet he saw himself pointed at by our Saviour: Behold the hand that betrayeth me is on the table; and Judas’ heart told him whose hand that was; yea, though Judas heard that dreadful sentence denounced against him, Woe to the man by whom the Son of man is betrayed; yet he is no more blanked than innocency itself: this shameless man had the impudence to say to our blessed Saviour, Master, is it I? Though St. Luke says it not, the other Evangelists tell us, that Christ answered him, Thou sayest it. Did not Judas (think we) blush extremely, and hang down his guiltly head, at so galling an intimation? Nothing less; we read not of any thing like it.

Lord, how does obstinacy in sinning steel the brow, and render it incapable of all relenting impressions!

Immediately after the celebration of the passover, followed the institution of the Lord’s supper.

Where we have observable, the author, the time, the elements, and the ministerial actions.

Observe, 1. The author of this new sacrament, Jesus took bread.

Learn thence, that to institute a sacrament is the sole prerogative of Jesus Christ; the church has no power to make new sacraments; it is only her duty to celebrate those which our Saviour has made.

2. The time of the institution, the night before the passion: The night in which he was betrayed, he took bread.

3. The sacramental elements, bread and wine; bread representing the body, and wine the blood of our Redeemer: bread being an absolutely necessary food, a common and obvious food, a strengthening and refreshing food; and wine being the most excellent drink; the most pleasant and delightful, the most cordial and restorative; for these reasons amongst others, did Christ consecrate and set these creatures apart for those holy purposes for which he designed them.

4. The ministerial actions, breaking of the bread and blessing of the cup: Jesus took bread; that is, separated it, and set it apart from common use, for holy purposes: He blessed it, that is, he prayed for a blessing upon it, and brake it, thereby shadowing forth his body broken upon the cross: and he gave it to his disciples, saying, this broken bread signifies my body, which is suddenly to be broken upon the cross, for the redemption and salvation of a lost world, Do you likewise this in remembrance of my death. As to the cup, Christ having set it apart by prayer and thanksgiving, he commands his disciples to drink all of it; For, says He, this cup is the new testament in my blood; that is, the wine in this cup does represent the shedding of my blood, by which the new covenant between God and man is ratified and confirmed. Drink ye all of this, says our Saviour: whence we gather, that every communicant has as undoubted a right to the cup, as he has to the bread in the Lord’s supper; therefore for the church of Rome to deny the cup to the common people is sacrilege, and directly contrary to Christ’s institution.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14–20. When the hour was come. There are four accounts of the institution of the Lord's Supper: Matt. 26:26–30; Mark 14:22–25; 1 Cor. 11:23–25. See notes on Matthew.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

This is the next event in the part of the story about the Passover. Jesus and his disciples are sitting to eat the Passover meal.

When the time came

"When it was time to eat the meal"

he sat down

"Jesus sat down"

I have greatly desired

"I have wanted very much"

before I suffer

Jesus is referring ahead to his death. The word for "suffer" here means to go through an unusually difficult or painful experience.

For I say to you

Jesus uses this phrase to emphasize the importance of what he will say next.

until it is fulfilled

This can be stated in active form. Possible meanings are 1) until the purpose of the Passover Festival is accomplished. AT: "until God fulfills it" or "until God completes the purpose of the Passover Festival" or 2) "until we celebrate the final Passover Festival" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

apostle

Passover

suffer

fulfill

kingdom of God

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

14–38. THE LAST SUPPER

14. οἱ ἀπόστολοι. The δώδεκα is omitted by אBD Edd.

14. ἡ ὥρα. If the meal was intended to be directly Paschal, this would be “between the two evenings” (Exo 12:6); a phrase interpreted by the Jews to mean between three and six, and by the Samaritans to mean between twilight and sunset. Probably Jesus and His disciples, anxious to avoid dangerous notice, would set forth towards dusk. It is almost impossible to suppose that the disciples at that dangerous crisis, when Jesus was under a ban, and in imminent peril of death, could have arranged to procure a paschal lamb. None of the Evangelists allude to a lamb as forming part of the meal.

ἀνέπεσεν. ‘He reclined.’ The custom of eating the Passover standing had long been abandoned. The real reason why the Jews now sat at the meal was because it had lost much of its original simplicity and was a prolonged and joyous festival. The Rabbis gave it as a reason for the change that the standing attitude only suited slaves.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14.] The ὥρα was evening, see above on ver. 10, and Mat 26:20.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14-23. The Last Supper, with the Institution of the Eucharist as a new Passover: comp. Mat 26:20-29; Mar 14:17-25. The declaration that one of them is a traitor is placed by Mt. and MK. at the beginning of the section, by Lk. at the end (ver. 21): comp. Joh 13:21 where the wording of the declaration agrees with Mt. and Mk. Lk. seems to have used an independent source: comp. 1Co 11:24, 1Co 11:25.

14. Lk.’s independence appears at once: nearly every word in the verse differs from Mt. and Mk.

ἀνέπεσεν. Mt. has ἀνέκειτο: the practice of standing (Exo 17:11) had long been abandoned; first for sitting, and then for reclining. Mos servorum est, ut edant stantes; at nunc comendunt recumbentes, ut dignoscatur, exisse eos e servitute in libertatem, was the explanation given by the Rabbins. The choosing of the lamb ten days in advance had also been given up. Here, as elsewhere, ἀναπίπτω implies a change of position (11:37, 14:10, 17:7; Joh 13:12, Joh 13:25, etc.). Lft. On a Fresh Revision of N.T. p. 80.

οἱ ἀπόστολοι. This is the true reading. In some texts δώδεκα has been Inserted (A C P R) or substituted (LX) from Mt. and Mk. Ten to thirty was the number for a passover. Note that Lk. once more has σύν, where others have μετά or καὶ comp. 8:38, 51, 20:1, 22:56.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The apostles. Both Matthew and Mark have the twelve.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.